'Transfix'
Spark
'Transfix!'
Block
'Transfix!'
Richard dodged to the side the very next moment, as 'death' materialized next to him like a ghost.
Swish
If it wasn't for the snippets of future he caught, or the fact that the man sucked in his attacks harder than any Dementor could, Richard knew that he would have ended up dead a dozen times.
The problem wasn't that though. The way he teleported much faster than apparation could, wasn't the problem Richard faced. It was the fact that almost none of the spells nor swords he had could even scratch the damn bastard.
Whatever he threw at him, just passed through, except for his target fixing transfix curse.
And that didnt have the killing power he wanted to blow the bastard to bits.
The spell sparked uselessly against the blade for the dozenth time. The man sucked at attacking, but his defense was built to last.
He was worried, for his life, and for Luna. His life came first, but he wasn't that concerned for himself because he already had a rough estimate of his opponent's ability.
But Luna...well, time travel had proven that she wasn't ready to face a werewolf. For a second, Richard lost focus of the battle. And the next second, the man was gone again.
Richard immediately moved. But nothing.
So far, the teleports had been instantaneous. With no time gap, at all. Yet, when his eyes scanned the grey landscape, the black cloaked figure was no where to be seen.And Richard did not get any immediate sense of danger either.
The danger sense, or rather, his bootleg version of observation haki had worked perfectly till now, wasn't working now. It had completely predicted the teleport points, as well as those immediate location shifts on time, but now..it was silent.
But he couldn't believe that the same person who had traveled time to kill him would just vanish.
Transfix
Fizzle
The sparks died from the tip of his wand before even leaving. That meant, he wasn't nearby. Nor was he on anywhere for hundred kilometers, because that was the last checked effective distance of his spell. Which begged questions.
Where was he? And why the abrupt departure?
"Awooooooooooo!"
Richard's boosted senses immediately identified the sound. That wasn't a werewolf. Nor was it a dog or a wolf. His ears twitched as he quickly pinpointed where it came from.
That was the sound of a girl, mimicking a wolf.
Richard turned, and burst into a sprint. Yet, as he did, his danger sense flared from behind him, almost on sync as his foot dug into the ground unnaturally.
His head halfway turned to the dark shadow at the back, snapped down to his leg, as something horrific happened there.
But even before the pain scrambled his brain, he heard a throaty raspy yell.
"Vestatio!"
Richard didn't even have time to think much less move. He only saw a flash of orange and silver before everything exploded.
BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
The explosion was devastating. In a single moment everything of form had turned into nothing but pure energy of explosion and light.
Swish....
The wind settled with a final gust, bringing the leaves dust to the cloaked figure's feet as he walked forwards.
Tsk
He had seen a flash of orange at that final moment. And he had heard of what it was, when people all praised the ' arc magister'.
But that's fine. He had time. Just not at the moment. He could feel the small window of instability in the time stream closing fast.
His magical gift gave him the ability to sense the temporal flow. And interact with instabilities. He had chosen today, because it was when the magister creates an instability of time to his own timeline, letting him insert himself to it.
In the moment, he rode the time stream of the magister, instead of the normal flow.
But he had clearly underestimated him.
"Looks like they call him magister for a reason. "
Even as a kid, that monster was not normal.
Still, the time loop was coming to an end in a bit. He had time, and he had a rough idea on where he was, but..he was definitely surrounded by others, who traveled back in time.
Instability was good. But considering that there were three of them, He knew that his own gift wasn't trained enough for him to disconcern the difference between each. That would make his already restricted fighting style even more problematic. Besides...
If he didnt slip out soon, then his presence would cause an alert. And if the arc magister of the future finds him...
Yeah, there was no need to take that risk.
"We'll meet soon enough." The man spoke to no one, but himself, out loud, and then vanished as if he was never there.
As for the explosion, he didnt bother covering it up. The dead man Pettigrew was there to take the blame.
.......
On the other side.
Crack
With the sound of a whip, and bright orange flash, Richard reappeared hundreds of meters away, and he immediately collapsed.
Even with his face on dirt, both of his hands had reached to his leg, or rather where it was, as he squeezed the remains of his thigh, which ended with mangled pieces of flesh, and roughly broken bone, where his life blood flowed out freely.
He was about to carteurize the wound slowly, but he stopped. Even as his ears rang from the blood loss, he could hear the sound of people shouting, explosions and animalistic growls from close by.
He didnt have time.
Richard pulled off his shirt with trembling hand, while the other clenched his thigh tightly. If he screamed, the pain would only grow worse, and he knew it.
Boost
Boost
Boost
His body began to glow slightly in orange, and Richard observed his leg starting to heal at a visible rate, as he began pulling the cloth around the stump tightly. Very very tightly so that he would not loose any more blood than he could spare.
Richard then tried to stand up, fighting the lightheadedness that made the world blurred and colors flash painfully in his vision while his brain felt cold and colder.
He stood up, with the support of a tree, though his leg wobbled as if it was a wet noodle, despite the magic flowing through his muscles.
His eyes caught green and yellow flashes from afar, and knew that it was Harry, protecting Hermione.
That's good.
He sighed, as he drew his hand across a long branch, completely severing it from the trunk. He could do that much even without his wand.
Then as the wand returned to his st reached hand, he moved it with a bit of flair, and the fallen stick shaped itself to the shape of a crutch.
He didnt wait for the shade to appear again. Instead, he began wobbling toward the flashes slowly.
When he set the setting for 'death', he made enough restrictions to make sure that guy couldn't spawn kill him. And inability to function properly in the place of multiple time travelers was one of those.
As long as he was near Harry and Hermione, he would be safe-
"AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
The scream pierced through the fog like a lightning bolt, and Richard's back straightened in a split second.
He didnt even pause to guess who that was. He could tell.
Richard pumped more of his dwindling magic into his leg as he hobbled faster. Faster than a jogger, faster than a sprinter,while the crutch burned against his armpit with friction.
Bang!
Bang
Bang!
Explosions grew louder, and the brightness higher as the distance closed, until finally, Richard crossed the final tree on the way.
And there, on the ground, under the glowing moonlight, Hermione laid chocking, struggling to breathe as her chest rose and fell painfully. The ground beneath her was turning deeper and deeper in red as blood flowed freely from wounds he didn't see.
'Shit. '
Richard immediately glanced at Harry who was blasting away magic at the retreating humanoid shadow with fury, and then back at Hermione before hobbling there fast.
He hoped that he could save her.
Harry seemed to have heard the noise of his arrival, and whipped around in fury, but Richard saw the words being swallowed when his eyes stopped at the missing leg.
"What-"
Richard cut him off and promptly fell onto his knee. His wand was already out.
"How long and what happened?"
"Just a few minutes ago, Lupin.."
It was horrible. Richard waved his wand muttering Ferula and episiky, but that wasn't even close to patching up Hermione who seemed to have gone into shock.
There was a massive chunk gone from her shoulder, near her neck, and blood squirted out of it rhythmically with each of her weak heartbeats.
Richard could see the bone there, crushed and splintered into pieces and dangling with bits and pieces of flesh, as he got his hands in and tried to pinch the blood vessels close. He even brought bishop out, letting the light and warmth support her.
But he couldn't stop it himself.
Blood was seeping out of her body from everywhere. From the shredded calf, from the pierced and leaking stomach and a dozen more points.
As Richard tried futilly, her fast breath turned into ragged hiccups that shook her body with each effort.
HIC
HIC
'I cant save her.' Richard accepted the fact. She was too damaged. Too broken to heal.
"I can't save her." Richard finally spoke out loud. And then immediately his head went to an idea he had shelved for sometime. "Not in the normal way."
He leaned away from the body, and blood began to squirt out again, making Harry panic.
"What are you doing! You got to save her!! "
"I will."
Richard held an upturned palm and focused. And red light gathered slowly to his palm.
"I'm going to keep her alive, even if it would turn her into something completely different. She will end up under me, and she will definitely hate me to the bone for it."
The magic formed into a knight shaped chess piece.
"But that's a sacrifice I am willing to make."
He had wanted this for so long, and only his humanity had stopped him from turning her into one of his peerage.
But karma screwed up, and gave him the perfect excuse, and Richard wasn't going to let it pass.
No one, not even his own consciousness could blame him because without the evil piece, she would end up dead.
Richard disliked that part of him, to think with such greed even at times like this. But he didnt deny it.
Besides, he had wanted a werewolf for himself, and things had gone just the perfect way for him to profit from.
'She's mine.'
He didnt fell the slightest guilt for doing that. She was dying. And saving her was the right thing to do. The additional bonus was something that came as a side reward.
He disliked himself for thinking that way, but..that didnt mean he saw fault in it.
Richard brought the red piece to her chest while Harry looked at him with hope.
"Never, ever tell anyone about this.'
Richard turned away as Harry nodded mutely, and slowly lowered the piece to the slowly dying body.
It sank in as if it was merely an illusion, while Richard moved its inner workings. Things needed upgrades, and adjusting to become useful piece, and Richard made sure with each moment of shimmering light, the piece bonded and became exactly what he imagined.
He closed his eyes as the exhaustion caught up.
As he collapsed, red light completely overtook Hermione's body, making it almost like a sun.
Richard had a wicked smile despite the losses, though he hid it in his heart. He might have lost a leg, but he gained a knight in its stead.